Panel Moves To Close Federal Worker Pay Gap

Wages Would Be Tied To Local Market

October 18, 1990|By The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators reached a tentative agreement with administration officials Wednesday to overhaul the federal pay system by linking employees' pay to local labor markets with the aim of closing the public-private wage gap within 13 years.

The plan, according to congressional sources, would boost civil service salaries across the board by as much as 5 percent each year from 1992 to 1994. In the following years, it would guarantee federal workers in high-cost cities, such as Washington, extra wages in an effort to begin to close the pay gap between the public and private sectors. Currently, employees of equal rank on the federal pay scale receive the same pay, regardless of where they live.

The president's pay adviser this year reported that government wages had fallen 30 percent behind comparable private-sector salaries.

Administration officials pledged to commit $3.6 billion over the next five years to fulfill provisions of the pay overhaul plan, but have said half of that must be absorbed by departmental and agency budgets. Congressional sources said Wednesday night that the funding formula was still under negotiation.

"I think we're there for the most part," said Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., one of the negotiators. "It is a good agreement ... a step forward."

The pay reform package that would begin in 1992 is the culmination of several years of study by civil service experts across the political spectrum who have concluded that the federal government's ability to recruit bright, new employees and retain the most qualified experienced workers has been greatly harmed by a growing disparity between what government and private industry are willing to pay their employees.

The proposal, which the sources said was tentatively approved Wednesday by Office of Management and Budget Director Richard G. Darman in negotiations with Hoyer and congressional aides, must be adopted by the House and Senate Treasury, Postal Service and General Government Appropriations conferees and the White House. The conferees plan to meet today on the matter.

The White House and OMB Wednesday night declined to comment on the matter.

Federal employee unions, which lobbied hard for the agreement, have signed off on the plan.

"I think it's a breakthrough," said John N. Sturdivant, president of the American Federation of Government Employees.